Got a sparrow apparently!

[zERo]

What an adorable little critter! Now she’s *really* a “house sparrow”.

I’m seeing some pretty decent resources online for house sparrow diet and one of them does say that they’ve successfully offered some Harrison’s Superfine if you have any of that for your parrot! It isn’t nutritionally complete enough for them I think, but it can be a part of their diet and offer some rounding out.

Yes she is! Lol

I may try some, she can't just live on seeds and egg food. She was not a fan of TOPs pellets soaked or dry. I'll have to order it.
Still have to think of a name for her!

 

[SunConureBaba]

Update: She’s still doing great. She is now eating more budgie seed and some spray millet, she also ate a cricket.
I ordered her the low cage, 2 plat form perches, a corner platform perch, and a rope perch. I’ll make her some toys too.
View attachment 43028

I thought yellow beak meant it's a baby or young bird. Is it an adult?

 

[SunConureBaba]

Or a bit of cat or dog food? I’m not sure what would be best. Maybe it doesn’t matter what protein as long as there’s a bit of protein given.

I would probably avoid that. I fed my baby robin dog food, didn't realize it was salty. Then he died the next day

 

[HeatherG]

I thought yellow beak meant it's a baby or young bird. Is it an adult?

We are thinking it left the nest recently. Because it has a deformed wing yet it is alive and healthy, it must have been with its parents. ??

I thought dog or cat food was what you are supposed to feed some wild baby birds. I know I fed a baby robin canned dog food many years ago.

 

[zERo]

I thought yellow beak meant it's a baby or young bird. Is it an adult?

Yeah, she has all of her adult feathers, I have read that brightly colored beak means she's probably young.

 

[SunConureBaba]

We are thinking it left the nest recently. Because it has a deformed wing yet it is alive and healthy, it must have been with its parents. ??

I thought dog or cat food was what you are supposed to feed some wild baby birds. I know I fed a baby robin canned dog food many years ago.

I also read from the internet that soft dog food should work. I still don't know the exact cause of death of my baby robin. Can't say for sure it's due to the dog food. However, his health turned 180 degrees after I fed him the salty dog food.

 

[HeatherG]

Yeah, she has all of her adult feathers, I have read that brightly colored beak means she's probably young.

You will be lucky to have a tame hand fed house sparrow, unlike almost anyone else!

 

[zERo]

Update: She is still doing well, she finished off an entire millet spray in about 4 days. I offered her some kale and broccoli, she loves broccoli! Ate probably 1/8 tsp. of it! She also ate another cricket and is still devouring the egg food.
Her cage and the stuff I ordered to put in it will be here either tomorrow or Wednesday, hopefully she likes it!

 

[zERo]

Update! Her new setup got here a few hours ago. I'll post pics of it tomorrow, she's still eating great. Loves one of the platform perches already. I named her Milly btw

 

[HeatherG]

What a lucky bird! She hopped into the right yard for sure.

 

[rockync]

Hey guys, the title says it all. Thursday morning one of my family members came in holding a female house sparrow! She is missing her primaries, secondaries and it appears what would be the 'wrist' of her wing, but the weird part is there no cut to speak of no blood at all as if she was possibly born without that much of her wing. What is weird is she's an adult, fully feathered, her other wing appears as normal.
I put her in a 20gal. tank I have so that I could put a heat lamp over her, keeping it at about 85-86F. Laid down a comfy pillow case and paper towels in it and a bowl of budgie seed, crumbled nutriberry and a spray of millet. So far out of the seeds she's only at a few.
I made her some egg food of sorts which she eats like a champ about every hour to hour and a half. I mashed a hard boiled egg yolk, mixed in water until it was creamy, then added ground flax since Omega 3s are very important at a time like this, I also added a pinch of ceylon cinnamon so she'd eat it better, then a bit of a powdered herbal mix I have (it has chia seeds, more Omega 3s)
She's so full of energy, I tossed a feeder cricket into the tank with her and she chased it down, running back and forth to get it, caught it, crushed its head but didn't even eat it!

Of course your all thinking did I contact the local game warden and wildlife department ? I did and they said no one within 4+ hour drive will take songbirds of any kind, only raptors and owls. He said don't post pics of the bird or tell the world you have her and if she can't be released then just keep her! I guess I'm stuck with a little sparrow! I have her far from my parrots and wash my hands well after feeding or doing anything concerning her, so anything else I should do for her? If she continues to improve I guess I'll get her a cage but since she's a handicap it will have to be short and horizontal for her ease of movement? Any advice for further care is appreciated!

You were very lucky to get someone with compassion on the phone from Wildlife and they gave you good advice. I imagine, like me (I'm a licensed rehabber in my state, mostly handling opossums) you are in a state that has draconian rules about keeping nonreleaseable wildlife. If they find out you have her, they can show uo anytime, seize her and euthanize her. There is an underground group for most every species of wildlife to keep this from happening and the rule is you do not post photos, give info or your details unless it is in a private, safe group. I think because this is healed, she may have been attacked by a larger bird or cat but managed to get away or some other injury although it is possible she was born that way. Those little house sparrows are tenacious! It sounds like you are doing a great job with her and since she is eating and is not terrified of you, looks like you have a new addition to the family! If she does live I would suggest you find a small bird cage and just build her a series of little platforms so she can easily climb up to a nest box and add some branches so she has some choices. Good luck and good job caring for her. She's a lucky bird.

 

[HeatherG]

My sis has hand fed squirrels that fell out of the nest.

With some really common animals, the state isn’t so worried about it. Especially if you are hours away from any place that could take the animal.

 

[MykaMom]

I spent several years doing rescue/rehab of song birds. Sorry to hear there's none in your area.

She looks young to me: I could be wrong but her feathers look new. It's possible she lost that wing right after hatching due to injury in the nest but there's no way to know for sure.

Your diet for her sounds excellent! My advice is to add soaked, dry kitten food to your routine. It's very high in protein and trace minerals/vitamins. It forms the basis of all rescue formulations no matter the age or species.

Sparrows are delightfully playful and mischievous little birds. They can bond quite well with their humans.
Liquid ivermectan dropped on bare skin, back of the head, works well for both internal and external parasites. We used it all the time. You can't overdose her.

Best of luck, you're off to a great start!

 

[HeatherG]

It occurs to me that house sparrows are introduced, like starlings, and therefore not protected as native wildlife.

I don’t know if a wildlife rehab would take most introduced species. ??

In this map, green is where the house sparrow is resident (native) and yellow is where it’s introduced. (From Wikipedia house sparrow entry).

 

[DRB]

Hey guys, the title says it all. Thursday morning one of my family members came in holding a female house sparrow! She is missing her primaries, secondaries and it appears what would be the 'wrist' of her wing, but the weird part is there no cut to speak of no blood at all as if she was possibly born without that much of her wing. What is weird is she's an adult, fully feathered, her other wing appears as normal.
I put her in a 20gal. tank I have so that I could put a heat lamp over her, keeping it at about 85-86F. Laid down a comfy pillow case and paper towels in it and a bowl of budgie seed, crumbled nutriberry and a spray of millet. So far out of the seeds she's only at a few.
I made her some egg food of sorts which she eats like a champ about every hour to hour and a half. I mashed a hard boiled egg yolk, mixed in water until it was creamy, then added ground flax since Omega 3s are very important at a time like this, I also added a pinch of ceylon cinnamon so she'd eat it better, then a bit of a powdered herbal mix I have (it has chia seeds, more Omega 3s)
She's so full of energy, I tossed a feeder cricket into the tank with her and she chased it down, running back and forth to get it, caught it, crushed its head but didn't even eat it!

Of course your all thinking did I contact the local game warden and wildlife department ? I did and they said no one within 4+ hour drive will take songbirds of any kind, only raptors and owls. He said don't post pics of the bird or tell the world you have her and if she can't be released then just keep her! I guess I'm stuck with a little sparrow! I have her far from my parrots and wash my hands well after feeding or doing anything concerning her, so anything else I should do for her? If she continues to improve I guess I'll get her a cage but since she's a handicap it will have to be short and horizontal for her ease of movement? Any advice for further care is appreciated!

I have a sparrow as well, she’s 14” tall grey and has red tail feathers.
My Grey mimics a sparrow call perfectly,

Every
Single
Day

 

[HeatherG]

I have a sparrow as well, she’s 14” tall grey and has red tail feathers.
My Grey mimics a sparrow call perfectly,

Every
Single
Day

Very loudly.

My Quaker did a giant lovebird imitation for many years.

 

[Rattlerjake]

Update: She’s still doing great. She is now eating more budgie seed and some spray millet, she also ate a cricket.
I ordered her the low cage, 2 plat form perches, a corner platform perch, and a rope perch. I’ll make her some toys too.
View attachment 43028

That is NOT an adult, it is a juvenile. Secondly, you don't need to notify wildlife department because House Sparrows are not native, and in fact are considered an invasive pest. Third, this bird is still learning what is edible and not, that's the reason it killed the cricket but didn't eat it. Wild bird seed, mealworms, BSF larvae, are all good choices. Because it is still a young bird, it need a diet high in protein - insects or moist dog/cat food.

 

[zERo]

 

[zERo]

There’s her setup. I haven’t put any toys other than a vine ball, I don’t want her to be overwhelmed. She was kinda uncomfortable initially. I gave her more steamed broccoli, she loves it! Also, this surprised me, she was picking and the vine ball, pushing it around playfully. Last pic is just a bonus!

 

[zERo]

I read every ones responses, I won't reply to each individual one however (I'm lazy)
Milly is still great, I made her a tiny plate of different things to try, some cooked quinoa, birdie bread, lettuce, and blueberry. So far she has ate some of the greens and birdie bread.
She actually took greens from my hand! She really loves that vine ball so I'll make her a little hanging toy to see what she thinks of that.
Still eating budgie seed and millet, I still have the heat lamp on her, she's slowing down on the egg food to eat more solids.
She also loves laying on her stomach, I thought (I hate to even type this) get her a happy hut? Like a non-fuzzy one. I thought about a nest box but what I I get her either of those and she starts laying eggs?
Is training a Milly possible? She's very aware of her surroundings, not trick training I wouldn't think but targeting?